Am I on a Conservative Do Not Call List?

I was recently researching something else and came across an article from 2007, that dealt with the way that the Conservatives gather information for fundraising lists.

I found it highly 'Big Brotherish', but it reminded me of a telephone call I received a couple of weeks ago.

It was the same day that my mail included a taxpayer funded attack ad from Burlington MP Mike Wallace, on behalf of Brian Abrams; so I was already 'in a mood'.

However, I noticed when the call came in that the ID was 'CPC' (those morons don't realize that CPC was already taken by the Communist Party of Canada), so I gathered it was part of a blitz into Peter Milliken's territory. The gentleman on the other end of the line was friendly enough, when he asked to speak to my husband.

I explained that he wasn't home and he said that he just wanted to invite him to some kind of special event in Brockville that the police were putting on. Brockville? Burlington? I live in Kingston. Were these guys lost?

However, after grabbing a pen to jot down the information, the caller suddenly became rather brusk, stammering that he would call back later; clearly not wanting to speak with me.

I called the number right back and sure enough it was from the Brockville Conservative Constituency office, using their staff, paid for by us, to campaign for OUR conservative candidate ... in Kingston ... a Liberal riding. Boy when these guys want to rob us they go all out. And the police no less. Abrams is an ex-RCMP officer and presently the lawyer for the Kingston Police.

I wondered at that time if he knew how much I disliked this new so-called Conservative Party, but dismissed it as being just my imagination. However, after reading these articles concerning our invasion of privacy, I believe I may be on a list.

How cool is that? I've always wanted to be on a list.

I had sent Brian Abrams two emails last election campaign, and he didn't respond to either. Guess that tells you how good a job he'll do if, heaven forbid, he ever gets elected. He already has his hand in the public purse, and refuses to deal with prospective constituents who ask questions not on his list of things he's allowed to discuss and how he must handle them.

Tory database draws ire of privacy experts
October 18 2007
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- The federal Conservative party's central database is set up to track the confidential concerns of individual constituents without their knowledge or consent, says a former Tory MP.

The issue spilled onto the floor of the House of Commons on Thursday when Garth Turner, the expelled Tory-turned-Liberal MP, accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of an "unethical invasion of Canadians' privacy.''

Privacy experts agree the practice is a clear breach of standard privacy ethics -- but probably not the law, because federal political parties fall into a legislative grey area.

A recent mailing by the prime minister to some Jewish households, and households with Jewish-sounding names, highlighted the micro targeting that sophisticated modern databases now facilitate.

The Rosh Hashanah greeting from Harper prompted several recipients to complain to the federal privacy commissioner, who has begun a preliminary inquiry.

It's cast a light on the 21st century art of political communication that may make some Canadians uneasy.

Virtually all federal and provincial parties have computerized databases, but the federal Conservatives are the acknowledged leader in the field of data management and mining.

Their fundraising efforts, based on small donations by thousands of donors, are unparalleled in federal politics.

Both the federal Liberals and the NDP have separate databases for constituency work and voter tracking. Data does not migrate between the two.

But the Conservatives use a single clearing house for all data collection, storage, datamining, mailing lists, voter tracking and any other partisan use such information may serve.

Turner, the Liberal maverick who was elected as a Conservative in 2006 and subsequently turfed from the party, says every Conservative MP is required to use something called CIMS, an acronym for Constituent Information Management System.

CIMS is used not only to track voter allegiance in a given riding -- something every political party attempts -- but also a host of other data gathered in the course of an MP's constituency office duties.

"Any time a constituent is engaged with the member of Parliament, they get zapped into the database,'' Turner said in an interview. "It's unethical and it's a shocking misuse of data. (guess I've been zapped)

"Because once you cotton on to what's going on here, it's not good constituency work at all to allow that data to fall into any kind of hands. But the party is desperate to get more and more data in there because the primary use is fundraising. The secondary use is voter tracking to get out the vote.''

Logging constituent files in a central party database that may also be used as part of election planning, fundraising, advertising strategy and policy deliberation appears to be clearly offside, two nationally respected privacy experts told The Canadian Press.

"If somebody contacts their MP because they're having a problem with their CPP benefit or their military pension, they don't expect to end up on a mailing list for a political party,'' said David Fraser, a Halifax lawyer who specializes in privacy issues with the firm McInnes Cooper.

"If they are going to end up on a mailing list, I think there's an ethical obligation to inform them and give them the opportunity to opt out.''

Michael Geist, a law professor who serves as the Canada research chair of Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, agrees.

"When you're going to your local MP with a concern or a problem, there is a certain level of confidentiality,'' said Geist.

"The notion that it's simply a data point that gets used to characterize the particular constituent could have a bit of a chilling effect.''

Nonetheless, the Conservatives are likely within the letter of Canada's privacy laws, because they are neither a government agency nor considered a commercial operation.

Geist argues that political parties' fundraising efforts might make them liable under the commercial privacy law, known as PIPEDA, but Fraser says the legislation as written suggests otherwise.

"Generally, political parties aren't regulated with respect to how they collect, use and disclose personal information,'' said Fraser.

The Conservatives, who openly boasted about their state-of-the-art CIMS database after purchasing it in 2004, now refuse to discuss it.

"I will not talk about internal party databases,'' said party spokesman Ryan Sparrow. "I'm not disclosing what is in our database, who is in our database.''

When asked if Canadians can request to see their file on the CIMS database, Sparrow responded: "What would be their specific need to see?''

Asked a second time, Sparrow shut down the inquiry.

"I'm not going to help you with your story. It's internal party matters.''

The Liberal party says it voluntarily follows the principles of PIPEDA -- including showing any individual who asks what is on their file -- even though the act does not apply to political parties.

"We do not keep any information on individuals without their expressed consent,'' said Elizabeth Whiting, the party's communications director.

The NDP also said citizens are free to ask to see their file, although the party is not aware it has ever received such a request.

Fraser said political parties, regardless of the law, should follow the best-practice standards established by the Canadian Standards Association, upon which both federal privacy acts are based.

"Those best practices, which are almost universally recognized in most western democracies, would suggest that political parties should give notice, get consent and provide people access to their information,'' said Fraser.

"Whether or not they choose to do that would speak volumes to how they see themselves as responsible custodians of this personal information.''

I think I'm going to contact the Conservative Party and see if I am in their database? It feels kind of weird.

Cheryl Gallant also been in trouble using private passport information to send out birthday cards to her constituents. If we can't even be guaranteed that this government isn't using our passport information for political gain, how can we trust them with anything else?

BIG BROTHER IS DEFINITELY WATCHING US!!

Conservative Blake Richards Campaign Literature a Work of Fiction

When Alberta MP, Blake Richards started distributing taxpayer funded attack ads in Kingston, Ontario; for our local Conservative candidate Brian Abrams, I was curious to know who Abrams was aligning himself with.

Not that Richards was the only one helping him finance his campaign with our money. Mike Wallace from Burlington also abused the public trust, hoping to do for Brian what he did for Lisa Raitt.

Naturally, this begs the question. If Brian Abrams can steal our tax dollars so easily before he's elected, why would we risk giving him access to the public purse?

It might eliminate the middle man, but during a time of economic uncertainty, do we really want to vote for a guy whose only priority is getting elected, and to hell with our tax dollars? Obviously it's all about him.

But back to Abram's new pal, Blake Richards. I was reading part of his campaign literature, posted by someone who really doesn't like him. I excused their rant, because I've been there myself on occasion, but when I ran down the list of Richard's brags and promises, it was pretty clearly a work of fiction.

However, it was also very clearly Reform Party ideology. Contempt for the courts and judges, the gun registry and the Canadian Wheat Board. Same old, same old.

We also learned that he has been a member of the Reform Party since 1988, back in the day when they were merely a Western protest party, with much of their protest against Quebec, multiculturalism, the gun registry, homosexuals .... or as Stephen Harper so aptly put it in an op-ed piece he wrote back in the day ... their priorities were the 'g' words: 'guns, gays and government grants'.

We have to also remember that most of the Reform Party policy, drafted by Harper was cribbed from the National Citizens Coalition handbook, so you might say, that like his boss; Richards is still working for the NCC.

Below are a few excerpts from Blake Richard's campaign brochure:

Reform Party Roots

Blake has been active in federal politics since joining the Reform Party in 1988, and has served as a Director and Policy Chairman in Wild Rose since 1993. He has been the local Campaign Manager for two federal elections for Myron Thompson as well as two national leadership campaigns.... serving as Constituency Assistant to current Member of Parliament Myron Thompson, for seven years.

Fact or Fiction?

Our Conservative government has accomplished much we can be proud of since taking office.

'We have lowered taxes by reducing the GST ...' - Most economists and our own Parliamentary budget officer, agree that lowering the GST was one of the biggest mistakes this government made. Reducing consumption taxes is not the way to go, and while it did nothing to stimulate the economy, greatly reduced our revenue at a time when we are now running an enormous debt and deficit. At some point it will have to be brought back to the 7% or we are going to be in trouble.

'... created greater accountability and transparency in government...' - This government is the least transparent of any before it. They tightly control the message, and make it difficult for the media to gain access to information. And as to the Accountability Act. It wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Offices have been created and staffed, but they have nothing to do. Whistle blowers are only allowed to whistle at the opposition, the Public Appointments Commission has no commissioner and the Republican who helped them draft the legislation, has himself been deemed one of the worst politicians in the U.S.

'... and reformed the Canadian Wheat Board allowing western farmers to market their own barley....' - Stephen Harper sued us again, in his long term goal to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board. However, " The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling that the attempt by the Government of Canada to remove the single desk on barley through regulatory change violated The Canadian Wheat Board Act". I just love when Stephen sues us. He never wins but he sure knows how to waste our tax dollars.

'We have implemented fixed election dates...' - When the ethics committee was getting too close to unearthing the truth in the Conservatives alleged election fraud, Harper shut everything down and broke his own fixed date election law, adding another three hundred million dollars to the ballooning costs of the "In and Out" scandal. Oh yeah, and he's suing us over that too. Man he must hate Canadians.

'... and brought forward bills to modernize the patronage-riddled Senate... despite a minority parliament and fierce opposition from a Senate dominated by Liberal patronage appointees' - Harper appointed 18 new senators, all through patronage. He has also found a way to make the Senate cease to function for anyone but him.

'Blake is committed to holding politicians more accountable by giving citizens the ability to recall promise-breaking politicians from office between elections...' Good to know. So does this mean we can fire Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty, for starters?

'Blake will fight for an end to judicial activism. It is the role of Parliament to create laws, not the domain of unelected and unaccountable judges....' Oh there's that old Reformer 'it's all the judges' fault.' Sounds like Maurice Vellacott. So Brian Abrams is a lawyer. Does he hate judges too?

'Blake is committed to ending all patronage appointments. Federal government positions should be filled based strictly on merit...' Hmmm ... too bad Harper doesn't share his vision. I've been creating a list of patronage appointments under our current PM, and he may even break Brian Mulroney's record.

'Blake is committed to ending the massive public subsidies that pay political parties $1.87 per vote received in the last general election. Taxpayers should not be forced to support political parties....' Rich. I agree. Taxpayers should not be forced to support political parties.

'Blake is committed to being a good steward of our environment, but believes there must be a balance between environmental sustainability and economic growth ... Blake firmly believes that any action on climate change must be based on a Made In Canada solution, and not on the faulty Kyoto Accord or any international carbon trading scheme which bolsters the economies of other countries at the expense of our own....' - Unfortunately for Blake, the environmental minister disagrees. He has signed on to the U.S. Cap and Trade, which is a fancy term for 'carbon tax'. Poor Blake. The problem is that as much as this government has abandoned any real environmental concerns, George Bush is gone and Obama is committed to going green. So if the Cons want to keep their precious NAFTA afloat, they have no choice but to clean up their act, literally.

'Blake supports immigration based on our economic and labour market needs, rather than some artificial quota.... Blake supports revamping the temporary foreign workers program – making it fair to both employers and employees' – Jason Kenney and Peter Van Loan are making Blake's dreams come true.

The rest is pretty much, as one of his constituents put it: 'FLUFF!'

So what does Brian Abrams stand for? Why did he ask Richards to abuse his mailing privileges to campaign for him in Kingston? Last election Abrams pretty much sprouted party rhetoric. Will he stand up for us or sit down and shut up for Stephen Harper? I think I know.

Back to - The Blake Richards Story: Shameless Self-Promotion

I'm Not the Only One Angry With Blake Richards

Recent letters to the editor, published in the Kingston Whig Standard, have revealed that most Kingstonians are upset with the recent taxpayer funded attack ads, that Conservative MPs Blake Richards (Wild Rose Alberta) and Mike Wallace (Burlington, Ontario) have been distributing in our city.

After 20 years of having Peter Milliken as our Member of Parliament, we're not used to seeing anything other than period newsletters that keep us up to date on changes, or provide direction should we have concerns.

He has never asked us to answer silly poll questions, nor does he use the mail outs for partisan attacks.

However, given that Brian Abrams will allow these men to abuse our tax dollars in this fashion, to save him a few bucks on his next election campaign, (especially during a period of economic uncertainty), gives us some indication of what to expect if he ever won this seat.

His sideshow barker, Hugh Segal, dismisses it by saying everyone does it. That's not true. And even if it was, how does that make it right? The Reform Party latched onto this loop hole years ago, but it has gotten entirely out of hand.

In 2002, when running for the leadership of the Alliance party, Stephen Harper accused Maurice Vellacott of abusing tax dollars to campaign for Stockwell Day. Soon after, Peter MacKay charged that Stephen Harper was abusing tax dollars to pepper his riding with trash.

Now everyone in the Conservative Party seems to have caught the bug, and if you search the net at all, you'll hear more complaints, but also learn some interesting strategies to deal with this.

If the government body can't see that this is an inexcusable practice, then we've got to take it upon ourselves to fight back. One gentlemen wrote across his 'Stop Wasting My Money A... hole!', before sending it back. I'm writing letters to the local papers and radio stations of the MP abusing his privilege, to let their constituents know that this is how they handle an economic crisis.

However, a local man, who was just as upset as I was; after his well deserved rant, offered another suggestion:

If you're going to campaign, call an election
July 3, 2009

On my way home, I stopped by my post office box. There I found a piece of mail that made me see red. It was from the government, and it represents, as far as I can tell, a massive abuse of the public trust.

It was a pamphlet that seemed to be trying to be a survey, asking who I thought was on the right track for Canada, with a little election ballot. However, most of it was a written version of the attack ads against Ignatieff, once again claiming that he was "just visiting." To make matters worse, to return this "survey" you just have to fold it up and put it into the mail - the "No Postage Required" on the stamp means that the return post is being paid for by Canada Post.

This is, put simply, an outrage. Consider the following:

1. This came "Compliments of Blake Richards, MP." My Member of Parliament is Peter Milliken. So, effectively, an MP with no portfolio is soliciting from another MP's riding.

2. This is an election campaign flyer - there is no question of that. But there hasn't been an election called. And this isn't the government bragging about its record - this is an attack ad flyer. This comes pretty close to libel, if it doesn't actually cross the line.

3. This hasn't been paid for by the Conservative Party of Canada coffers - this was paid for by Canada Post. In short, taxpayers are paying for the Conservatives to mail out attack ad flyers outside of an election.

This is not acceptable behaviour from public servants. Now, there is something that people can do about it. They can write to their Member of Parliament, and they can also write to the Board of Internal Economy.

Here is the list of its members. My fellow Canadians - I ask you, please write and complain. The only way that the Conservative Party will learn its lesson is if we do not remain silent, and if we tell them, united, that this will not be allowed to stand.

I responded to the frustrated Blogger:

I am just as frustrated as you with these damn campaign flyers being paid from our tax dollars. I live in Kingston as well and mine was from Mike Wallace in Burlington. I sent a letter to the editor of the Kingston Whig Standard and the Burlington Post. Both were published.

My son got the one from Richards so I've just sent off a letter to his local paper. Ironically, someone had already written one there, not about the attack ads but about other nonsense he's been sending his constituents that is nothing more than Conservative rhetoric. (they called it fluff)

Blake may have some explaining to do if they publish my letter as well.

If these guys want to come to my backyard then I'm going to theirs. We've got to start fighting back.

Back to - The Blake Richards Story: Shameless Self-Promotion

Paul Calandra is Another Conservative Abusing Tax Dollars

The abuse of the franking system by the Conservatives has reached almost epidemic proportions. What is known as 'ten percenters' are supposed to be used to keep constituents informed, but instead are being misused to launch partisan attack ads, that are being billed to taxpayers.

At Least Mr. Calandra sent his to his own riding, but many MPs are now using them to distribute attack ads to ridings of the opposition, so that simply being a candidate gives you 'free' use of tax dollars. Free to them, but not to us.

I recently complained because despite the fact that I live in Kingston, a Liberal riding; I recently received an attack ad against Michael Ignatieff, that was sent to me from Burlington MP Mike Wallace (Apparently he also distributed 29,000 of these things to help Lisa Raitt before she got elected).

Our local 'also ran', Brian Abrams, apparently has no qualms about stealing tax dollars before the election, so what hope do we have of his being honest, if he's elected? Slim to none.

However, I'm not the only one annoyed with this abuse, so I'm collecting stories from across the country, and exposing the guilty parties. Following is a letter sent to the editor, by one voter frustrated with this tax funded junk mail.

Your Community

On returning from a brief holiday, it was no surprise to find one of the pieces of accumulated mail was from our MP, Paul Calandra, last week. This latest one was an attack on Michael Ignatieff. I have been receiving these regular mailings from Mr. Calandra approximately every two weeks for the last several months.

At one point, I received two in one week. I assume everyone else in our riding receives them as well. Generally, the theme is, "Who is on the right track for Canada? I have responded to each one, making comments or asking a question when there was room to do so, always giving my name and address, e-mail address and phone number.

As yet, I have never received a reply, and am left wondering if anybody reads them and if any real purpose is being served. Obviously Mr. Calandra is making use of the free mail service, which we provide for our MPs. In his case, it seems to me that use is being abused. As a Taxpayer I'd like to see it stop.

R. Blake Tufford
Whitchurch-Stouffville

IS THIS REALLY CONSERVATIVE? IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA?

MP Mike Wallace Does a Poor Job Looking After His Constituents

After deciding to investigate Mike Wallace, the Conservative MP for Burlington, Ontario, I never really thought I'd find much. In fact I never would have looked into his record at all, except that he came to where I live distributing attack ads, so I thought I'd return the favour.

However, after reading some of his speeches and watching a few videos, I've decided that the man is not only an idiot, but may be completely devoid of human emotion.

This next story helps to show, that rather than offering any compassion for a family in his riding, he started nattering about photo ops and then passed the buck. A true Conservative.

Celil writes home
May 29, 2008
Canadian man’s letter from Chinese prison coincides with failed visit by relatives last March
By Jason Misner

Imprisoned Burlington resident Huseyin Celil is desperate to know why Canada hasn’t freed him from his Chinese jail, according to a March letter the religious leader reportedly wrote to his family, who then released its contents to the media.

Celil’s pleas for help sadden his wife, Kamila, who continues to urge the Canadian government to send a special envoy to the country to at least confirm the well being of her husband.

Celil has been jailed since 2006 on terrorism-related charges that his family says aren’t true.

“I feel really sad because we don’t have communication with him,” Kamila told the Post. “I can’t write a letter. I will do anything I can to get him back.”

For the first time, the public has access to what Celil has to say about his two-year Chinese ordeal, through a letter he reportedly sent to relatives in China. The correspondence was subsequently mailed to the Burlington home of the imprisoned man’s wife. In the three-page correspondence, dated March 10, 2008 and translated by the past president of the Uyghur Canadian Association, Celil professes his innocence and wants Canada’s help.

“Dear Kamila, if possible please contact with the Embassy personal in Beijing and let them know my situation. So far nearly two years I have not seen any one from Canada. I am citizen of Canada and I belong to this great country.

“If I am in jail know it is just because I got a bad luck. Otherwise I have not done any thing wrong in my whole life. I really want to talk with some one from our Embassy in Beijing, I would like to tell them that I am absolutely innocent person. I want them to know my story. Why they are not coming to see me? I want them to ask for me why I am in jail for so long? What went wrong? What is the reason?

“I want to know all of these. I could not find any one here to listen me.”

Celil writes about the anguish he feels for not being able to see his family. He has six children, including one with disabilities and an 18-month-old he has never seen. Also, Celil discusses how much he misses his aging mother and apologizes “if I have done any thing wrong to you in my life.”

“I would like to put each and every name of my relatives on this paper and send my greetings from my heart,” he wrote. “Worst thing is I can not do any thing for my mother, children, wife and relatives except pray in my heart.”

Inexplicably, the front of the envelope containing the letter was postmarked 2007.

Despite the inconsistency, Kamila says she recognizes her husband’s handwriting and the way he communicates in the letter.

According to Mehmet Tohti, past president and current human rights contact for the Uyghur Canadian Association, “it is quite common” for Chinese authorities to use the wrong dates on mailing envelopes on purpose.

“It is the game,” he said, adding a letter his brother mailed to him from East Turkistan in 2000 had a 1996 stamp date. “They have a political agenda.”

Celil was found guilty of plotting to split the country, but his family says he was advocating for the religious and political rights of the Uyghur people.

He had fled China in the mid-’90s after being detained in connection with his human rights work. He eventually went to Turkey where he sought asylum through the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

He was recognized as a refugee and settled in Canada in 2001.

He was arrested in Uzbekistan on March 27, 2006 when he was visiting relatives there. He was trying to renew his travel visa at the time of his arrest. Celil’s Canadian citizenship is not recognized by China. Last summer, a Chinese high court upheld a lower court’s decision to imprison him for life.

Earlier this year, Chinese authorities refused to disclose the whereabouts of Celil after family members tried to visit him in jail. They were told to come back in three months.

Celil family lawyer Chris MacLeod told the Post last Friday that the letter is “good news” but there is so much more to do to get the father of six freed.

He said Amnesty International is spearheading a letter-writing campaign to keep Celil’s plight in the public spotlight. It has used Celil’s case as an example of China’s poor humans rights record.

Cheryl Hotchkiss, campaigner with Amnesty’s Asia region, said a copy of the letter would be sent to Amnesty researchers in London, U.K. to help map the group’s next steps to get Celil released.

Burlington Conservative MP Mike Wallace said he hasn’t seen the letter, but insisted his party’s government is working to free Celil. (Interesting that he uses the term 'his party's government' and not the Canadian government. Says a lot, doesn't it? He's not in it for Canada, he's just in it for himself. Kind of reminds me of Jim Prentice's Freudian slip.)

Last week, Wallace said although he wouldn’t fly to China to try to secure the man’s release he has spoken to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and top Conservative ministers to keep the case active.

“It would be a waste of taxpayers’ money for me to go as the Member of Parliament when we have the minister of state involved, Jason Kenney. I have had a discussion with Mr. (Maxime) Bernier, the foreign minister, and I know he is aware of the issue,” Wallace said, noting he has been in contact with the Celil family.

“Having a Member of Parliament from Burlington go might be a good photo-op but would not be effective. (The Celil case) is way up the ladder, in terms of people with greater authority than me, from a government point of view, looking into the item. (He's from your riding. It's your responsibility to help him)

“I don’t even know where he is. It would be inappropriate. There would be no production from it whatsoever.”

Late Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Bernier resigned his position, admitting he had mishandled classified government documents. He has been temporarily replaced by Trade Minister David Emerson, who heads cabinet’s Afghanistan committee.

The Department of Foreign Affairs International Trade Canada says it can’t say much about the Celil case, citing privacy laws, but noted the case is being taken very seriously.

“Ministers and officials have made repeated requests to Chinese authorities to obtain access to Celil and we will continue to raise his case at every opportunity,” stated department spokesperson Shaun Tinkler in an e-mail.

More Postings on Mike Wallace:

1. To Conservative MP Mike Wallace ... What are You Talking About?

2. Conservative MP Mike Wallace Caught Cheating with Lisa Raitt

To Conservative MP Mike Wallace ... What are You Talking About?

When I received an attack ad against Michael Ignatieff yesterday, from Mike Wallace, the Conservative MP from Burlington; I was a little confused.

I live in Kingston, so why was he abusing our tax dollars to send me junk mail? Of course, it was pretty clear that it was to promote Brian Abrams, our Conservative 'also ran', who can't yet steal our money on his own.

Then I read a Post from Red Tory that included a video of Wallace's, and I actually started to feel sorry for the guy. I think he might be lost.

This silly little guy wanted our Parliamentary budget officer to sugar coat his predictions, by comparing our situation to that in the U.S., then insisted he include the projected sale of assets, without a list of assets that the Conservatives plan to unload to cover their mismanagement of our economy.

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, when Kevin Page was discussing job losses, our man from Burlington startled everyone with his outburst: 'What are you talking about???' Clearly Mr. Wallace hasn't read the newspapers or he would know exactly what Mr. Page was talking about. But then listen to him talk .... comprehension could be a problem.

The Budget Outlook: No Positive Stuff
Red Tory
March 28, 2009

Burlington Conservative MP Mike Wallace was perturbed at Wednesday’s Commons finance committee hearing that Kevin Page, the independent parliamentary budget officer, didn’t offset his gloomy forecast that the economy would deteriorate at “a historic rate” much faster than the government had predicted in January’s budget, with more upbeat, feel-good news (like Harper will surely be delivering on Fox News Sunday tomorrow).

“How come you didn’t show us any positive stuff that Canada’s doing?” Wallace pathetically moaned. “We’re in better shape, wouldn’t you agree, than our American friends? Is there a reason that you’ve only showed us the negative?” (ha ha ha ha)

Indeed. Page should have focused on the “positive stuff” — like having clawed our way back to a surplus position after years of massive deficits racked up by the previous “Conservative” government, paying down the national debt and setting aside a contingency fund under the previous Liberal government (well, that is until the Conservatives pissed it away with their reckless spending and pointless GST cut).

Or he could have pointed to our superior financial regulatory regime, again thanks to the Liberals, and with no help from the Conservatives, who opposed such regulation every step of the way.

Listen to Mike try to rationalize their incompetence. And speaking of mortgages.

Update: This seems rather appropriate here…

Kingston's Brian Abrams Lost But is Still Stealing From Taxpayers

When I first learned that our local Conservative candidate Brian Abrams had hired a Republican pollster to run his campaign, I expected a little visit from Karl Rove. I just hadn't expected it so soon.

Yesterday, in my mail I received my first ever attack ad. Cleverly disguised, it looked like all the other ridiculous ads. Nothing new.

Until I flipped it it over and realized that it was sent to me here in Kingston, by Burlington Conservative MP, Mike Wallace.

This means that I paid for it. Wallace was abusing his franking privileges to campaign for Brian Abrams.

Angry as hell I sent two letters to the editor. One to our local Whig Standard and the other to the Burlington Post. This blatant misuse of tax dollars has got to stop.

This is the one I sent to the Burlington Post:

I hadn't heard of Mike Wallace until yesterday, so you can imagine my surprise when I received an attack ad in the mail from him. I live in Kingston, Ontario. Since it looked like their national campaign literature, I assumed that it came from our local Conservative office, trying to get a jump on the next election. And yet it was addressed on the back to your local Member of Parliament?

Curious, I did a little investigating and learned that this was a taxpayer funded flyer, known as a 'ten percenter', that allows MPs to keep their constituents informed and was never intended to be used to launch partisan attacks. I also discovered that Mr. Wallace did the same thing for Lisa Raitt in Halton, using tax dollars to pepper her opponent. We all know how that turned out.

I'm glad that Burlington is doing so well and that Mr. Wallace has so much time on his hands; but I'm getting tired of this. Canada is now running the largest deficit in our history, and we are in last place for climate change initiatives, but what is our government doing? Telling us why we shouldn't vote for the other guy.

So, in answer to his silly 'poll' question 'Who is on the right track to keep taxes low?', I checked off Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton and Elizabeth May. I'm mailing it back to Mr. Wallace demanding a refund. I didn't order this so I shouldn't be paying for it. The people of Burlington must have something for him to do besides send me junk mail.

And to the Kingston Whig Standard:

I hadn't heard of Mike Wallace until yesterday. I don't mean the American broadcaster, but the Conservative MP for Burlington; so you can imagine my surprise when I received an attack ad in the mail from him.

Since it looked like their national campaign ads, I assumed that it came from our local Conservative office, trying to get a jump on the next election. However, after a little investigating I learned that this was a taxpayer funded flyer, known as a 'ten percenter', that allows MPs to keep their constituents informed. It was never intended to be used to launch partisan attacks. I'm sure Mr. Abrams can raise his own campaign funding, without using our tax dollars.

Besides, I'm getting tired of this. Canada is now running the largest deficit in our history, and we are in last place for climate change initiatives, but what is our government doing? Telling us why we shouldn't vote for the other guy.

So, in answer to the silly 'poll' question 'Who is on the right track to keep taxes low?', I checked off Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton and Elizabeth May. I'm mailing it back to Mr. Wallace demanding a refund. I didn't order this so I shouldn't be paying for it.

Back to: The Brian Abrams Story: I Want to be a Potted Plant

Conservative MP Mike Wallace Caught Cheating with Lisa Raitt

I hadn't heard of Mike Wallace until yesterday. I don't mean the American broadcaster, but the Conservative MP for Burlington; so you can imagine my surprise when I received an attack ad in the mail from him. I live in Kingston.

I initially assumed that it came from our local Conservative 'also ran', Brian Abrams, but then of course that would mean he'd have to pay for it himself. By using an elected Member of Parliament, it didn't cost him a dime.

It's the Canadian taxpayer who gets stuck with the bill.

I guess I shouldn't have been that shocked. After learning that Brian Abrams had hired a American Republican pollster to run his next campaign, I actually expected a visit from Karl Rove. I just didn't expect it so soon.

Angry as hell I looked into Mr. Wallace's past and found that this wasn't the first time he'd cheated taxpayers to get free advertising for Conservative candidates. When Lisa Raitt was challenging Garth Turner for his seat, this Burlington MP mailed 29,000 flyers to Turner's constituents. 29,000 campaign style flyers that WE PAID FOR. She won and look how that turned out.

I'm getting so tired of this.

Canada is now running the largest deficit in our history, and we are in last place for climate change initiatives. But what is our government doing? Telling us why we shouldn't vote for the other guy.

Maybe it's time for the people of Burlington to find out what their MP has been up to, because clearly he's got too much time on his hands.